Chapter 37
Reinke is a place lacking in everything except snow and monsters.
In fact, it’s because of those two things that everything else is scarce, but the fact remains that those are the only things in abundance. The people of Reinke tried to make good use of even these two things to build their lives in such a harsh environment.
As a result of trying to solve many problems with easily obtainable resources, they managed to find uses for almost every part of monster carcasses.
From basic parts like skin, bones, and teeth to tendons, palates, and even fat. Monster carcasses were thoroughly stripped and every part was used in daily life. There was practically no place where monster by-products weren’t used.
‘At first, I was shocked that all the daily necessities I used were made from monster carcasses.’
That’s because monsters are Reinke’s enemies, aren’t they? Yet they were casually using the innards and skins of these enemies in their everyday lives.
Ruan briefly wondered if the people who constantly fought monsters for their lives might find it uncomfortable, but… everyone had the attitude of “We worked hard to catch them, so of course we should use them fully. They’d chomp down on humans whole if they caught us, right? Just because the living ones are bad doesn’t mean we need to dislike the useful dead monsters too!” So Ruan came to accept it as well.
But…
“You make adhesive from orc tendons? This is what happens when you boil orc tendons?”
It seemed that using monster by-products in this way wasn’t common in this world after all.
‘I thought this when they talked about ogre leather, but… it’s not just me, someone from another world, who finds this amazing…’
Ruan, watching Ulrik with his nose practically buried in the adhesive part of the lint roller, explained things he had only recently learned himself.
“Yes. I heard that tendons from other monsters can be used too, but… orcs are the most common, and orc tendons are difficult to use elsewhere, so they’re mainly used like this.”
To this, Ulrik said with bright, intense eyes:
“So they use monster tendons in other places too. As I’ve noticed while looking around, Reinke uses monster by-products in really diverse ways. Now that I hear about it, I’m surprised by all the unfamiliar materials everywhere.”
‘He seemed interested in monster by-products since he first arrived, and it looks like he’s been observing such things throughout his tour of Reinke. Is it really that fascinating?’
Inwardly pondering the general sensibilities of people in this other world, Ruan answered as if he had lived his entire life using items made from monster by-products in Reinke:
“Yes. In Reinke, monster by-products are extremely useful resources. It might seem unfamiliar to someone from elsewhere.”
Nodding vigorously at Ruan’s words, Ulrik said:
“That’s right. Usually, monsters are just evil and brutal beings, full stop, aren’t they? But to think of utilizing them… And to use them so casually in everyday life. It’s truly an unimaginable concept.”
Ruan tried to localize the feeling of using monster by-products in this world to fit a 21st-century Earth perspective.
So… using monster by-products… is it like in a zombie dystopia where the electricity goes out, and someone says, “Well, why don’t we gather zombies and use them to power generators?” and then actually implements it?
Ruan overlaid the images of Magda and Joachim onto the example he had imagined.
As Ruan slightly grimaced at imagining the cheerful siblings catching loads of zombies and making them generate electricity, saying “They keep moving anyway, so isn’t it good to make electricity while we’re at it!”, Ulrik spoke up.
“But when you change your perspective and see it as usable material, these are attractive materials with different properties from what we’ve been using. In other words, it means we can now make things we couldn’t make before, right? Thinking about it that way…”
Ulrik began to list the characteristics of monster by-product items he had seen and touched in Reinke, and how they could be utilized. Despite the short time, the amount of observations, analyses, and ideas based on them was considerable.
Seeing Ulrik excitedly sharing his thoughts, Ruan’s thinking shifted direction.
I thought zombie power generation would just seem strange… but is this a development where experts are actually interested because it’s infinitely powered and eco-friendly?
I thought they were interested because using monster by-products was an alien concept, but were monster by-products themselves materials attractive enough to capture a dwarf’s interest like this?
‘Then… couldn’t this become a specialty product?’
* * *
In other words, Reinke is a place with only plenty of snow and monsters.
This was both a factor making life in Reinke difficult right now and an obstacle preventing Reinke’s growth.
Because no one wants to come to a barren territory that’s always exposed to monster threats, where snow always covers the land routes and the sea is frozen for 5 months of the year.
Merchants don’t bother coming to Reinke because the risks are high with no merits. Talented individuals don’t flow in because it’s not a place where one can succeed and prosper. No one immigrates because it’s less comfortable than anywhere else, and once you enter, you’re bound by law and can’t leave.
Tourism? It’s not an era where many people can leisurely tour, but even if there were tourists, they wouldn’t come to such a dangerous place.
Moreover, there was nothing to sell. If there was anything valuable, it would be the dwarven weapons and iron ore that would come in the future… But both are absolutely necessary for Reinke, which is always at war, and a significant portion of the iron ore would have to be given to the dwarves, so there wouldn’t be any surplus to sell.
It was truly a bleak situation for Ruan, who had decided to develop Reinke for the cat’s sake.
To be honest, Reinke at present was in a situation where it had to struggle just to maintain the status quo, let alone grow.
Reinke was already a place where one always had to fight for their life, and now the things that had maintained even that level of balance had suddenly collapsed. It was literally a situation where every winter was a critical period.
As a result, most of the work the Grand Duke was carrying out, and that Ruan was helping with, focused on giving Reinke the strength to endure.
Things like increasing the individual combat power of knights and soldiers, building systems to help more of them survive, reinforcing the castle walls through the dwarves, and strengthening weapons and armor.
Of course, this was urgent and extremely important work, but… in Ruan’s opinion, it wasn’t enough to protect Reinke, the Grand Duke’s territory.
Because with just that, they couldn’t escape the situation of constantly struggling to endure. And if so, they would inevitably be swayed by the royal family members trying to exploit Reinke.
Ruan was looking for ways to grow Reinke.
‘But… to think that monsters, which I thought were just obstacles, might have commercial value.’
For Ruan, who had been considering melting eternal snow and selling it with false advertising as “premium water drunk by the Northern Grand Duke,” this was information that couldn’t help but perk up his ears.
‘Come to think of it, the coat made from ogre leather was indeed light yet warm, and although I didn’t particularly notice because they’re everyday items, things made from monster bones were quite durable too.’
It’s just that the thought hadn’t occurred to him earlier. Items made from monster by-products were generally of good quality.
The only problem was that since they were items made by Reinke people as needed, the craftsmanship was somewhat rough…
“But now we have dwarf craftsmen who are eager to make something with monster by-products, don’t we?”
The Grand Duke, who had been quietly listening to Ruan’s words, spoke up.
“So you’re saying the dwarves will form a guild here?”
“Yes. A guild for making products from monster by-products.”
Ruan nodded and recalled what had happened the previous day.
After discussing monster by-products, Ruan and Ulrik went to find other dwarves. And as some dwarves showed interest in monster by-products, the idea of establishing a new guild, the ‘Monster Product Guild,’ came up.
‘When I asked if it was okay since they already belonged to guilds, they said that these days, the hottest trend in dwarf society is interdisciplinary fusion, so everyone is trying to join multiple guilds and many new guilds are being formed…’
The dwarves, saying that “the opportunity for a new attempt is, if not love, at least a very fateful encounter for a dwarf,” excitedly listed the names of dwarves who would join this endeavor.
They explained that recently, as if it were a social phenomenon, a fatal disease called slump was spreading among the younger generation of dwarves, and many dwarves would come to this new land and put all their efforts into new attempts to escape from it.
For dwarves, whose reason for existence is creation, a slump is an extremely serious problem, so everyone would be eager to participate.
‘Well… dwarf society is complicated too, huh…’
